But some of them also happened to work for influential indie clearinghouses the Fader and Pitchfork, Main Attrakionz’ earliest and most prominent boosters, along with other left-leaning blogs that were drawn to the group’s self-proclaimed “cloud rap,” a dreamy juxtaposition of hard-edged raps floating over ambient-inspired lo-fi beats. It’s funny - my mama told me not to go on the Internet and talk to people, because there be crazy people on there.”

“We didn’t know how to make songs or nothing, but we would still send them to blogs, and they’d still put them up. “We were just recording out the closet,” says rapper Damondre “Mondre” Grice, 21, of the group’s early music.